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http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=41664<div><br></div><div>APE 2012: Sergio Aragones Looks Back on his Life & Career</div><div>Tue, October 16, 2012 at 12:28pm PDT</div><div>Steven Sautter, Contributing Writer<br><div><p style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, sans-serif; margin-top: 5px; margin-right: 140px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 15px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; font: normal normal normal 1.2em/1em Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; text-shadow: rgb(0, 0, 105) 0px -1px 1px; color: rgb(157, 168, 233); "><br></p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; "><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">Famed cartoonist <a href="http://www.comicbookresources.com/tag/sergio+aragones" style="color: rgb(154, 0, 27); text-decoration: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); ">Sergio Aragonés</a>, the fastest pen in the West,</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">held court to a steadily increasing crowd during his <a href="http://www.comicbookresources.com/tag/alternative+press+expo" style="color: rgb(154, 0, 27); text-decoration: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); ">Alternative</a></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; "><a href="http://www.comicbookresources.com/tag/alternative+press+expo" style="color: rgb(154, 0, 27); text-decoration: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); ">Press Expo</a> spotlight panel in San Francisco, CA. Walking with</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">a cane due to a recent operation, he joked about his physical</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">therapist before diving straight into an overview of his career.</p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, sans-serif; line-height: 20px; ">In 1954, Aragonés' first cartoons debuted in his high school</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, sans-serif; line-height: 20px; ">newspaper in Mexico. One of his editors took his work to a</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, sans-serif; line-height: 20px; ">magazine called "Ja Ja," selling them without his knowledge.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, sans-serif; line-height: 20px; ">"I had a weekly page in 'Manana' and made some money in</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, sans-serif; line-height: 20px; ">cartooning, but not professional cartooning. It was more like</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, sans-serif; line-height: 20px; ">window displays and that sort of thing," Aragonés said.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; "><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; "><br></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">In 1962, Aragonés jumped on a bus to New York where he</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">"recited poetry in the Flamingo Bar." After being told numerous</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">times to submit to "MAD Magazine," he finally worked up the</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">nerve to speak with "Spy vs. Spy" artist, Antonio Prohías.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">Prohías introduced him to the editors who quickly gave him an</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">assignment -- "A MAD Look at the U.S. Space Program," "and</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">they really liked it," Aragonés said. The next morning, he went</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">back to the "MAD" offices before they opened with his next</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">assignment and kept going back day after day with art. "They</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">gave me a one hundred dollar check. I was wealthy! I wasn't</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">going anywhere."</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; "><br></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">Aragonés visited Europe for two years, where he "learned the</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">trade from European pantomime cartoons. I wanted to meet</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">the artists." He learned most of the European cartoonists had</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">owned the rights to their work and this inspired him to seek the</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">same compensation.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; "><br></p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; "><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">"There were funny comics and kids comics, but no humor comics.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">When the underground scene came out, finally there was a market."</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">Aragonés scored a break at Pacific Comics for his most famous</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">creation, <a href="http://www.comicbookresources.com/tag/groo" style="color: rgb(154, 0, 27); text-decoration: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); ">"Groo."</a>"Pacific went out of business because they went</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">into distribution rather than printing. One issue at Eclipse Comics,</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">another with Marvel Comics and then there were 120 issues, never</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">missing a month or being late," Aragonés said.</p><div><br></div></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; "><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">He mentioned his latest "Groo" project at <a href="http://darkhorse.com/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(154, 0, 27); text-decoration: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); ">Dark Horse Comics</a>, "Groo</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">vs. Conan." "Tom Yates is drawing Conan in a realistic style and I'm</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">doing Groo," Aragonés said. Although slightly delayed because of his</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">health issues, Aragonés is finishing issue three right now and said the</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">series should be out by 2013.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; "><br></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">The popular trend of self-publishing is appealing to Aragonés. "I've been</p></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, sans-serif; line-height: 20px; ">wondering about self-publishing. All these companies I work with have</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, sans-serif; line-height: 20px; ">right of first refusal. So I show them my work and they take it, but I could</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, sans-serif; line-height: 20px; ">triple my income! It's a great era, and I wish I was younger so I could turn</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, sans-serif; line-height: 20px; ">companies on their heads. All my ideas relate to comics and cartoons -- I</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, sans-serif; line-height: 20px; ">don't have any grand plans. I want to do 'Don Quixote,' but my way, with</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, sans-serif; line-height: 20px; ">me in it and making it intellectually correct."</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; "><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; "><br></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; "></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">Offering advice to the artists in the audience, Aragonés said, "Don't work</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">for free. I know you love it and I'm very glad, but you don't go to a doctor,</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">architect or a fine artist and expect them to work for free. If you respect</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">me, you want to pay for my work -- even though it's what we love to do.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">The reality is gas is now $5 a gallon and we have to live."</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; "><br></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">Aragonés fielded questions from the audience, beginning with if he had ever</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">considered teaching art to others. "My problem with teaching is I've never</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">learned. My style is so nuts -- I can correct and tell what direction to take,</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">but I can't teach. I recommend learning literature. Read how to write, and if</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">you're good at writing, take an art class. For me to teach? I wouldn't know</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">how and I don't understand it."</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; "><br></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">Aragonés admitted his workday has evolved over time, the hustle and bustle</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">of self-promoting his art and getting his name out there no longer taking</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">precedence to time spent creating. "Now I get up, sit by the pool and get</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">ideas. I have lunch, then go to my studio and work. I see a woman at five</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">in the morning asking me when I'm coming to bed because I get so engrossed.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">It's great to do something you love."</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; "><br></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">He went on to discuss the process of creating his "MAD" marginals, which</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">appeared throughout the magazine. "It's funny because of the size and</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">quickness of it -- the marginals are vignettes to complement the subject.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">The one I'm doing now is a 'MAD Look at Alternative Medicine.' I spend</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">weeks just thinking about gags, which sometimes my family doesn't</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">understand. Then I write them down on little strips of paper, going from A-Z,</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">and they choose three or four pages worth. Now I have enough material for</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">a whole book! Many of my gags from <a href="http://www.bongocomics.com/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(154, 0, 27); text-decoration: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); ">Bongo Comics'</a> 'Funnies' came from</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">stuff 'MAD' didn't take."</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; "><br></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">Aragonés announced he's working on a "MAD" animated show on Cartoon</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">Network, saying, "I do the original art and they scan it in and animate it.</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">We've tried to do 'Groo' as a movie, but everyone wants a piece of it -- they</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">want to own it and no one wants me there. I want to collaborate with them,</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">but I don't want an accountant telling me how to write a gag."</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; "><br></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">In writing satire, Aragonés admitted a joke he may have taken too far and feels</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">regret about is "a series of books called 'Fanny Hillman: Memoirs of a Jewish</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">Madame.' They were popular, but..."</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; "><br></p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">To close the panel, Aragonés says he'll leave the prospect of an autobiography</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">to the publishers. "I've thought about it. In every issue of 'Funnies' I have a</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">biographical story -- #8's is how I fled from Spain to Mexico. I have plenty of</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">stories to tell and I'm 75 right now, maybe I'll hit 90. I only tell the funny stories --</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; ">the other ones are boring. You'll have them all eventually."</p><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.6em; "><br></p></span></div></div> </div></body>
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